recent adventures in Vang Vieng

After I stepped off the bus onto Vang Vieng soil. A guy by the name of David clung onto me. He excitedly asked: "So, where should we look for a guesthouse?" Then once we found a place, he said: "Do you wanna share a room?" He's harmless, so why not? I need to keep costs low, so I can conserve my funds. That first night as we sat on our beds talking he excused himself to go to the bathroom, and then stuck his head out of the bathroom to say "keep talking to me while I use the bathroom, because I'm enjoying this conversation," but he didn't close the door, and I started to hear bathroom noises (ker-plunks etc..). I was completely grossed out, and told him to close the door next time as I proceeded to slam the door in disgust. GROSS! When he finally emerged he didn't even blink an eye when he asked if I wanted to accompany him for dinner.
After dinner we walked the town. People were enjoying the 'pizza shops,' which are drug shops. They add ganja or mushrooms to your food if you order off the 'special menu.' I was also amused by everyone hypnotized by Friends episodes playing on the t.v.'s at several of the restaurants. These people are on vacation in the middle of one of the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen to watch this stupid show? And do the Lao people think this is the lifestyle of the majority? I hope not.
David and I went to a bar where I met my new good Canadian friend Annie. She was helping out at the bar, serving me free drinks, and I stayed there talking to her until the bars closed at midnight. David thankfully left. Did I mention that he will stop in his tracks while in the middle of a conversation or while walking with me to write in his journal. Yeah... he's odd.
Anyways, the next day Annie, her friend Tom, David, and I rented bicycles and biked 10 km out to Pah kham cave and the blue lagoon. Tom turned around and biked out, and we thanked him for showing us the way. As we turned the last corner before our destination David squeezed the front brake and went flying over his handlebars. He bent the front wheel of his bike, and it was almost unrideable.
Finally we arrived, and we scaled a huge mt. and then went spelunking in this amazing and dangerous cave, but it was fun and exciting. I used the headlamp my dad lent me(Thanks dad!), and led the way up and down the rickety stairs through the cave. I was inside mother earth. Inside nature's womb.
After we were all hot and sweaty I helped Annie down the steep and slippery jungle mt. to the Blue Lagoon. She had a serious motorbike accident a couple days prior.
The Blue lagoon was immaculate, but David wouldn't know because while I swam, and Annie waded her feet in the water(to avoid getting a staff infection from soaking her wounds in the water), David wrote in his journal. Then he exclaimed in a peaceful moment that he wanted to leave and return the bike. He said that he would get in trouble for bending the wheel. Since the bike wouldn't ride he carried it out of the national park on his shoulders with the Lao women laughing at him in the background.
Annie and I stayed. I swam and swung from the rope swing with the Lao children, and then we went back. Later that night she came to visit me at my guesthouse and the owner saw her wounds. She asked to see them. When she did she freaked out and told Annie to return at 6 p.m., so that her husband, who was a Doctor, could clean them. When Annie return the Doctor was smoking a cig. and drinking a beer. He nodded at her and got her a chair to sit on. He cleaned her wounds and applied Turmeric with a knife directly to the wounds before covering them with gauze and tape.
Then next day the bandages were stuck to her wounds, and neither of us knew what to do, so we lounged by the Mekong River enjoying beers with two cool African guys until 6 p.m., and then we returned to the good Doctor. Annie showed him that the bandages were stuck, so he motioned for her to sit. He started applying a solution and gently began peeling off the attached gauze, but then he pointed across the room, and when she looked he ripped the bandages and the top layer of her wounds off. He then started laughing sadistically. I thought he was crazy, and she started crying and looking to me for help. I didn't know what to do! In fact, I think my mouth was hanging open when she was crying in pain and fear and he began mimicking her crying to make fun of her. When I wanted to say something he looked to me and stopped, applied Hydrogen peroxide to her wounds, which started to fizz from the infection, and then he applied a fresh application of turmeric to her wounds with his trusty knife. No gauze this time. He told her in 3 days she would be healed. Then he massaged her energy lines on her forearm and fingers before sending us on our way. The wounds did look dramatically improved by the next day.
She and her Canadian posse left for Vietnam, so I biked out to the organic farm which is an eco-sustainable living farm. This farm supports the village and helps keep kids in school.
The food was amazing, and there I met my crazy friend Luis. Luis is 60-something, half German and Half Spanish, but living in Ceville, Spain. He spends half of every year in India, smokes like a chimney, has random flings with young crazy Lao girls, and is the most animated character I've ever met. He and I enjoyed the day conversing about randomness. After lunch I helped him move to my guesthouse where I received a note from Cesar from the front desk. He had arrived, and would be back any moment to see me. Yay! :D
These two men couldn't be more different! Where Luis is tall, crazy, non-linear, and loud. Cesar is short(yes, shorter and 6 years older than me), driven, balanced, and thoughtful. The next day the three of us went kayaking down the Mekong River where everyone goes tubing. We stopped off at some of the bars, we had fun on the rope swings, and I enjoyed my free shots of Lao Lao. I think I'm the only person crazy enough to drink this alcohol, and for that reason I never have to pay for it. :) Cesar and I went out dancing that night at one of three bars on the island, and we had a blast! It began to rain because the monsoons have begun.
Yesterday he and I biked 35 km to a different blue lagoon, had lunch, mingled with the locals, and went out dancing again.

Now I'm in Vientiane with my new Finnish friend Elina. Tomorrow I will explore this capital and all it has to offer. She and I are talking about renting bikes and venturing out to the Buddha Park.